Check out McCoy and Thorn’s SubText
Author: Jonathan Dodson
Assimilate with Care
Missional Thoughts has some good points on assimilation taken from the book Fusion.
Practices of a Missional Community – II
This weekend we had part I of our Leadership Training (Missional Leadership), which will be followed up by part II (Pastoral Leadership) next month. At ACL we believe that the most fundamental category of biblical leadership is not the pastor but the disciple. There will be no pastors, elders, or deacons in heaven; they are a temporary necessity but disciples will last forever. Disciples are both pastoral and missional; they “baptize” and teach” others (Matt 28:18-20). One day disciples will neither baptize nor teach others, but until then all Christians are called to be missional, pastoral leaders, to be priests and missionaries, to be disciples of Jesus.The third part of our training considered the Four Practices of ACL and how each one can be inward and outward, pastoral and missional. We focused on the missional nature of these. For what its worth, here are my sketchy, incomplete notes.
- Pray for one another and for the city
Pray that God would give you wisdom about how to produce missional disciples in your area of leadership. How can the band be missional? How can children in children’s ministry be missional? How can City Groups be more missional? Set Up/Tear Down be missional? Prayerwalk your neighborhoods, cubicles, etc.
Pray that God would make you a more missional disciple.
- Share life and truth
Share life and truth within your ministry in a way that nourishes inwardly but points them outwardly. Worship Team- discuss lyrics of songs, not just music
Childrens Mniistry- Show me Jesus, not Just as Savior but as Sent
City Groups- Stress the missional dimensions of truth in CGs
CGs be willing to share life through the addition of new members
3. Engage peoples and cultures
Engage people outside the church with love and interest. Make a habit of going to them in the gospel as a sent disciple, not as a solider or a spy. Press into peoples lives with a sincere interest in them and their fears, joys, concerns, hobbies. As missional disciples in your neighborhood, work Worship Team is thinking about singer/song-writer nights Hospitality Team with church socials Kids Life with visiting children City Groups with your SSP and where you meet Eat with them (Mark 2:13-17)
Engage culture by listening to your culture. What are the values of Central, South, and North Austin? What do your neighbors care about in the Anderson Mill area, around William Cannon, in Shoal Creek, downtown, Riverside Meadows?
4. Love one another
Be a hospitable people. You are a family expecting guests, not consumers showing up for a product. Welcome our visitors with love and attention. Ask them questions. The more prepared we are to receive guests, the more guests we will receive.
Everything speaks to visitors.
Roland Allen on Church Planting
Roland Allen is basic reading for a church planter, Missionary Methods: Paul’s or Our’s, in particular. People like Tim Keller, David Hesselgrave, and Ed Stetzer have relied on Allen’s foundational insights. J.D. Payne offers a guided tour through Allen’s life and thought in the following article: The Legacy of Roland Allen: Part One-His Life. An excerpt:
In 1912, Allen published his classic work Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? The title of the text revealed much about the book’s content. Allen advocated that the missionary methods of the Apostle were not antiquated but rather to be applied to missionary endeavors in any day and time. Allen stated that “I myself am more convinced than ever that in the careful examination of his [St. Paul’s] work, above all in the understanding and appreciation of his principles, we shall find the solution of most of our present difficulties.” Toward the end of the work, Allen poignantly wrote that “at any rate this much is certain, that the Apostle’s methods succeeded exactly where ours have failed.”
The following year saw Allen’s publication of Missionary Principles. In this work Allen advocated that the indwelling Holy Spirit provides the missionary zeal. For Allen, the end of all missionary desire is a worldwide “Revelation of Christ.” It was his desire to discuss principles not only related to foreign missionary work, but principles that “could be applied to any work anywhere.”